bottle up

phrasal verb

bottled up; bottling up; bottles up

: to keep (a feeling or emotion) inside instead of expressing it : to hide (a feeling or emotion)

She's kept her feelings about the accident bottled up for too long.

I know he's angry, but he bottles it up inside instead of talking to someone about it.

Examples of bottle up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Seattle’s stifling defense had bottled up the Rams’ quarterback, Matthew Stafford. —Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 23 Nov. 2025

Perhaps counterintuitively, a strong polar vortex actually keeps coldest weather bottled up near the North Pole. —Doyle Rice, USA Today, 20 Nov. 2025

Gaines had 65 yards on nine carries in the first half, and Riley 57 yards on 15 carries, but they got bottled up after halftime. —Jim Keyser, Idaho Statesman, 16 Nov. 2025

Pittsburgh’s defense bottled up running back Jonathan Taylor and sacked quarterback Daniel Jones five times while forcing him into three interceptions and two fumbles. —Mike Jones, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2025

Rhymes for bottle up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup